In his first campaign address before running for president again in a March election, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to make Russia a “sovereign, self-sufficient” power in the face of the West.
Putin, who has been in power since 2000, will run for president in March, in a referendum that is expected to extend his tenure until at least 2030.
The vote comes little over two years after he launched Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, bringing massive rounds of Western sanctions against Russia.
“We must remember and never forget and tell our children: Russia will be either a sovereign, self-sufficient state, or it will not be there at all,” Putin said during a congress of the ruling United Russia party.
Putin has said that he will make “sovereignty” — a loosely defined term — one of the key aims of his fifth term in the Kremlin.
“We will only make decisions ourselves without foreign tips from abroad,” Putin told United Russia members, to applause.
“Russia cannot — like some countries — give away its sovereignty for some sausage and become someone’s satellite,” the 71-year-old said.
He accused the West of wanting to “sow internal troubles” in Russia.
“But such tactics did not work,” he said.
The long-serving Kremlin leader stated that “we still have a lot to do for the interests of Russia” and that the country was facing “historic tasks.”
Putin’s political opponents are all imprisoned or in exile, and Moscow has outlawed criticism of its Ukraine campaign.